By Melissa Stough
Contributing Writer
The Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Ky. opened an exhibit titled “Promise, Witness, Remembrance” on April 7. According to the museum’s website, the exhibit “reflects on the life of Breonna Taylor, her killing in 2020, and the year of protests that followed, in Louisville and around the world.”
Allison Glenn, an associate curator of contemporary art at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, organized the exhibit based on a conversation with Breonna Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, and a desire to emphasize the importance of the Black lives lost to gun violence in the U.S.
Each part of the exhibit’s title highlights the meaning of the intentions of the exhibition, as stated on the museum’s website:
“Promise” analyzes the “unalienable rights of the United States” and how history demonstrates the reality of rights when considering the significance of racial identity in the U.S.
“Witness” interprets and observes the current world we live in, involving protests, demonstrations and how people of color face violent discrimination daily, and despite being in the middle of a global pandemic, “incidents of police brutality and gun violence against Black and Brown communities continue to take place with almost no recourse.”
“Remembrance” immortalizes the Black lives lost to the police violence and gun violence in the U.S. today and in our past. These vibrant photographs and paintings represent the incredible strength of humanity and serve as solemn reminders of the very real and deadly impact of systemic racism.
Tickets for the exhibition are available through the Speed Art Museum’s website from April 7 until June 6.Select pieces are also available on the Speed Art Museum online gallery for public viewing.